OHIO SCHOOLS are gradually implementing a new law on missed days for all school districts.

Under the new law, students are required to attend school for a minimum number of hours per calendar year rather than the traditional minimum days system.

According to Martins Ferry Schools Superintendent Dirk Fitch, the new law requires a minimum of 1,001 hours of instruction for grades 7-12 and 910 hours for K-6. Students in half-day kindergarten must spend at least 455 hours in school.

“It used to be where two-hour delays never counted against you. Now those two hours come off your total. You have to make sure you have enough extra time built in, or you’ll be making up some time at the end,” Fitch said.

The transition is happening in intervals, as rules don’t take effect until a school’s union contracts expire.

“We could have waited because our teacher contract doesn’t expire until the end of this year, but we knew that at the end of this year, we’re going to have to get on board anyway. Plus, it provides us more flexibility, so there was really no reason not to change over to the hours,” Barnesville Schools Superintendent Randy Lucas said.

The new law integrates some flexibility in terms of making up missed days. Some schools have longer days which allow for wiggle room.

“For us, our student day is long enough, and we go enough days now that we far exceed the minimum number of hours,” Lucas said.

Barnesville Schools scheduled 122.5 hours over the minimum requirement at the elementary level, 122.95 over at the middle school level and 111.15 over at the high school level.

“We had the flexibility to actually reduce time for our kids, but we didn’t want to do that. We want to give them as much time on task as possible,” Lucas said.

The incorporation of Blizzard Bags helps to make up for lost time as well. According to Lucas, the Blizzard Bag assignments are posted online to ProgressBook. The students log in to their accounts to access assignments listed by their teachers for completion in the time frame of two weeks.

In order to qualify for Blizzard Bags, schools must apply through the Ohio Department of Education. The old system used Blizzard Bags on the sixth day of missed school, and it hasn’t changed much.

“Whatever number of hours your standard day is, you translate that into days. On day six, we’ll have a voice message that goes out to all the families stating this is Blizzard Bag day No. 1 and to log into their ProgressBook accounts for assignments,” Lucas said.

Students will be issued Blizzard Bag assignments on days six, seven and eight. Barnesville Schools still plan to make up any calamity days beyond eight.

Lucas said the previous law required Ohio schools to schedule 178 days of instruction with a window of up to five missed days available, but they had to make up any additional missed days.

“I feel comfortable with it. It gives us some flexibility. It’s not been that much different than the old system. I spent the first part of this year making a little Excel spreadsheet, and every day I track how many hours we’re in the building. It’s probably a little bit more tracking for me,” Fitch said.

Any supervised time counts toward the hours. According to Fitch, Ohio schools are given two professional development days and two days for parent-teacher conferences; each equal to 11 hours at the high school and middle school level and 10 hours at the elementary level. Assemblies and supervised recess time for elementary students also count. At all levels, lunch does not qualify in the minimum hour requirements.

In the event of a harsh winter, Ohio schools have more flexibility in their judgment calls. In the event where 15 or more missed days accrue, the Ohio Board of Education can waive some days to be made up.

“In the past, you’ve had to wait for the legislature to pass a law saying you’re going to waive so many days due to bad weather. By going to hours, if we decided it’s in the best interest of our students and the community, the board can make that decision,” Lucas said.

Courtney can be reached at hcourtney @timesleaderonline.com.